


some memories never leave your bones

by LailaLiquorice



Series: loved so very deeply by a chosen few [3]
Category: Six - Marlow/Moss
Genre: Cathy Parr is an angel, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-08
Updated: 2019-06-08
Packaged: 2020-04-23 04:14:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19143358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LailaLiquorice/pseuds/LailaLiquorice
Summary: When a case of food poisoning brings back memories that Jane Seymour would rather forget.





	some memories never leave your bones

To say that Jane was the mother of the Queens’ household was an understatement. The housework chart that Parr had drawn up soon after they all moved in together hadn’t lasted long before Jane ended up doing a bit of everything, though of course the other girls did their bit to help whenever she asked them too. Her days off were always spent catching up on the housework that always got forgotten during with their busy show schedules, and to be perfectly honest she didn’t trust any of the other girls to go food shopping after sending Anne and Kat one time ended up in the pair buying so many sweets that they were on a sugar high for the next 24 hours. They were allowed to come with her, but under no circumstances were they allowed to go alone.

Since it was mostly her in charge of the food, she pretty much trusted blindly that anything in the house was safe to eat. So she didn’t think twice about eating the corner shop sandwich that Anne handed her just before a matinee show upon realising she’d forgotten to bring herself a packed lunch, and it was only after she’d finished it did she catch sight of the package and realise it was three days out of date.

Without thinking she rushed into the other dressing room, waving her hands frantically when she saw Anne just about to tuck into her own sandwich. “Anne, don’t! They’ve gone off!” she shouted.

Anne just blinked at her for a moment, before putting the sandwich down and checking the packaging for herself. “Oh yeah, good save Jane,” she laughed, resealing the wrapper before throwing it across the dressing room into the bin. “I usually stock up on lunches at the start of the week, must’ve not realised they had short dates on them. Guess we’ll have to put up with stealing Cathy’s biscuits ‘til we get home then ‘cos I don’t think we’ve got time to do another food run.”

Jane hummed in agreement, not telling Anne that she hadn’t noticed in time to stop herself from eating it. It would only make the other girl feel guilty, and she was pretty confident that nothing would come of it. She’d read somewhere that most use-by-dates were overly cautious for most foods anyway. If they’d survived before refrigerators in their old lives then a single sandwich wasn’t about to bring her down.

After getting home and eating a proper dinner as normal, she was even surer of her conclusion. And after nearly two days with no symptoms at all she’d pretty much forgotten about it altogether.

When she was woken at 6am by uncomfortable cramps in her abdomen she just assumed that it was an early warning of her period approaching; Anna suffered the same and had described it as ‘her uterus playing the Jaws theme song’, which Jane had thought was a good analogy after Anna explained what the Jaws theme song was. Groaning, she sat up slowly and gave herself a minute of breathing deeply before pulling on her dressing gown to head downstairs. The morning sun was already streaming through her window but there was a chill in the air she couldn’t ignore.

As expected the kitchen was deserted – even on a show day when everyone was awake promptly she was usually the first one up. After shuffling over to the kettle to make herself a coffee to wake herself up and take some painkillers with, she rummaged around the cupboards for a hot water bottle to ease her stomach. It was usually Anne who needed one the most during that time of the month but with six girls living together they were in no short supply. Once armed with caffeine and her hot water bottle she sat down gingerly at the kitchen table to wait for the painkillers to kick in, unable to stop herself from shivering as she pulled her dressing gown tight around herself.

She was feeling no better when the first set of footsteps sounded above her, making no effort to turn towards the door as she tried to work out who it was. “Hey Jane,” said Parr’s voice a moment later.

“Morning love,” Jane said, a tight smile on her face as she looked over at her friend. “You’re up early.”

Cathy shrugged, flicking the kettle back on before leaning against the counter as she talked. “Fell asleep early so woke up early I guess. You know I don’t need much sleep,” she explained, though her yawn a second later did little to support her statement. Her sleepy smile quickly turned into a frown as Jane shivered violently, pressing the hot water bottle as close to her skin as possible. “Are you alright?” she asked, concern in her voice.

Jane nodded, arms wrapped tightly around her stomach. “I’m fine, just woke up with bad cramps that’s all.”

“Ah,” Cathy said, pulling a pitying expression. “Let me make us some breakfast then, since it’s usually you running around whenever one of us is under the weather.”

“Thanks love,” Jane sighed, unwilling to move for as long as she didn’t have to.

Aragon had joined them by the time Parr sat down with two plates of toast, giving Jane a sympathetic smile when she noticed the hot water bottle she was clutching. She was always a little softer first thing in the morning, a side of her that usually only Jane ever got to see. “Not having a good morning huh?” she asked, emptying the kettle to make her typical green tea.

“It’ll pass, don’t worry about me,” Jane said, just about returning the smile as she nibbled on her toast.

But her confidence was short-lived, as she barely managed the first slice before her stomach suddenly churned and she realised with horrible clarity that she was about to be sick. Before Parr or Aragon even had time to react she was on her feet and sprinting, just about making it to the downstairs bathroom before she was throwing up into the toilet.

Gentle hands pulling her hair back alerted her to Parr’s presence beside her, tying it out of the way as Jane continued to heave. When it was over she slumped back into Parr’s arms, breathing heavily and shaking with chills. “You’re alright, I’ve got you,” Parr murmured, taking most of Jane’s weight since she was too weak to hold herself up.

“Try and have some water,” sounded another voice, as Aragon crouched down beside them with a glass in her hands. Jane’s hands were trembling as she reached to take it, grateful for Aragon’s hands either side of hers to support her as she took a few sips.

“Do you think you can stand up?” Parr asked, and when Jane gave a tiny nod she shifted so that one hand was under her arm and the other around her back. Aragon took her other arm and together they managed to get Jane on her feet despite how much she was shaking, exhaustion tugging at her limbs now that the adrenaline had worn off. For a moment she leaned heavily on the sink, glancing briefly at her pale and miserable reflection as Parr continued to speak gently. “That’s it, take it slow. Do you want to lie down on the sofa?”

Jane shook her head, fighting her tiredness to support as much of her own weight as she could. “I’ll just go back to bed, I’ll be fine,” she said quietly.

“Are you sure? We’ll make sure the other girls can’t-“

“Yes, I’m sure.”

Aragon didn’t try to protest again after Jane’s quick interruption, only nodding as Jane took a few shaky steps away from her and Parr. Without their reassuring forms by her side she felt suddenly vulnerable but forced herself to carry on, repeating “I’ll be fine,” as she gave them an empty smile. With that she carried on away from them, clinging onto the banister with a white-knuckled grip as she climbed the stairs towards her bedroom.

The second she was across the threshold she shut the door, fighting the urge to sink to her knees until she was curled up on her mattress. Only then did she give in to the panic that had been creeping up on her since the first feeling of nausea. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she hugged her middle and sobbed silently, shaking from both fever and terror. All she could think about was the last time she could remember feeling like that, when all she wanted was to hold her son but she couldn’t do anything for the fever wracking her body and the pain in her stomach. The same pain she could feel now, twisting her insides every time she moved. In the back of her head she could hear the screams of her son and the pleas of her ladies in waiting, the memories growing stronger as her fever worsened.

It was easy to feign sleep when she heard Kat checking on her before they left for the theatre, as she’d been slipping in and out of consciousness all day and was barely coherent when the younger girl’s voice roused her out of a fitful sleep. She was unconscious again before the front door shut, dreams filled with agony and fear that were hardly lessened upon waking. The room was so hot it was almost suffocating but whenever she kicked the duvet back the air was like ice on her clammy skin. Even sitting up to drink sips of water made her feel nauseatingly dizzy, and all she could do was lie down and pray that the bed would stop spinning. Then she’d end up falling asleep again after fighting it desperately for fear she wouldn’t wake up again, and the hellish cycle would continue.

She had no idea how much time had passed before she heard her door open again, trying to still her shivers so that whoever it was would leave her to sleep again. The thought of hearing her friends crying over her now as they’d done back then was what kept her from making any movement, but as soon as the door shut she couldn’t contain the sobs that shook her frame as she curled up tighter. As much as she didn’t want anyone there she was too scared to be alone in the dark place her mind had gone to.

The mattress dipping hardly registered with her, until she felt someone press up close to her back with one hand on her arm and the other on her forehead. “Breathe with me Jane, I’ve got you,” Parr’s voice said softly, rubbing soothing circles into her shoulder as Jane continued to cry. “You’re here, you’re going to be ok.”

Jane knew she was right deep down, but panic and fear had her shaking her head as she rolled onto her back to look up at Cathy. “But this- this is how I felt when- when I-“ she choked out between frantic breaths, unable to add _‘when I died.’_

But she didn’t need to finish those words for Cathy to nod, murmuring sweet nothings as Jane covered her face with her hands and let out another sob. “Shh, I know love, I thought you would,” she murmured. There was a moment of hesitation, so unlike Cathy’s usual self, before she swallowed hard and added “It’s how I died too, so believe me I know.”

The reveal was enough for Jane to look at her properly, struggling to focus her gaze on Cathy’s haunted expression. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, because she didn’t know what else to say. Cathy was the most private of them all by far, keeping secret most of the details from her past life other than what she sang about during the show, so while Jane knew she’d had a daughter and died during her infancy she had never intruded by asking how.

“It’s ok,” Cathy said, the shadows gone from her behind her eyes as if they’d never existed. Gentle fingers swept a few strands of blonde hair from her sweat-slicked forehead, a thumb rubbing over her cheek to wipe away tears as she continued. “Don’t think about that. It’s just a stomach bug, it’ll pass soon and you’re going to be fine. Nothing that happened then can hurt you now.”

That was what Jane always said to Anne and Kat when night terrors left them screaming during the night, the words familiar enough to calm the fear in her racing heart. “Sorry,” she said, sniffing again, “I just feel bad.”

Cathy’s hand disappeared for a moment before it was replaced by a damp flannel, and Jane sighed and closed her eyes with how blissfully cool it was against her fever-hot skin. “I know you do. But it won’t last, I promise.”

Jane nodded slightly. After several moments of quiet other than the sound of Cathy’s breathing, she asked “Can you stay here? I don’t think I want to be alone again.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Cathy said, her hand finding its way into Jane’s and squeezing gently.

With their linked hands anchoring her into the present and her memories banished back to where they belonged, Jane exhaled quietly as she let her friend’s reassuring presence lull her into a peaceful sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> It's angst time babeyyyyyyyyy
> 
> The idea of Jane panicking because of how she died was what prompted me to write this entire series to be honest, so I was very excited to write this one. She's such a caretaker that seeing her in need of some tlc made my heart hurt. And Cathy understanding it because she's been there too... ugh I have feelings. This wasn't interpreted to be read as shippy but please feel free to do so if you'd like, I know it could definitely come across that way.
> 
> I'm lailaliquorice on tumblr :)


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